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Episode 133

Can You Really Work on an Airplane?

Are those travelers on their laptops just showing off? Why does V8 taste better at 35,000 feet? And why won’t Angela chat with her seatmate?…

Bring Your Questions for the MythBusters

…careers, from pet shop owner to charter boat captain to wilderness survival expert. He has also created the mechanical spiders for Arachnophobia and competed in the Comedy Central series Battlebots….



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EXTRA

A Modern Whaler Speaks Up

Bjørn Andersen killed 111 minke whales this season. He tells us how he does it, why he does it, and what he thinks would happen if whale-hunting ever stopped. (This…

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Episode 603

Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 1)

The biggest sports league in history had a problem: While most of its players were Black, almost none of its head coaches were. So the N.F.L. launched a hiring policy…


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Episode 493

Why Does the Most Monotonous Job in the World Pay $1 Million? (Update)

Adam Smith famously argued that specialization is the key to prosperity. In the N.F.L., the long snapper is proof of that argument. Here’s everything there is to know about a…

High-Seas Piracy and the Great Recession

…few hours had retaken the ship from the pirates. The ship’s captain, however, is still being held hostage in a lifeboat, in a face-off with an American-guided missile destroyer. It’s…



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Episode 127

How Can You Be a Better Communicator?

How do you express yourself when you’re not sure what you want to say? What’s the number one way to get people to listen to you? And why are letters…

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EXTRA

Mark Teixeira Full Interview

A conversation with former Major League Baseball player and current E.S.P.N. analyst Mark Teixeira, recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Hidden Side of Sports.”…

Does Obesity Kill?

…accident “an act of God”; others blame a company that modified the boat; there has also been talk that the captain was drinking. Now it seems only logical that someone…




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Episode 88

Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 2 (Replay)

College tends to make people happier, healthier, and wealthier. But how?

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Episode 186

Do You Need a Routine?

Would you be more adventurous if you had more structure? Do you multitask while brushing your teeth? And what would Mike’s perfect brother Peter do?…

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Episode 112

Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars (Update)

Reginald Dwayne Betts spent more than eight years in prison. Today he’s a Yale Law graduate, a MacArthur Fellow, and a poet. His nonprofit works to build libraries in prisons…

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Episode 224

How To Win A Nobel Prize (Replay)

The gist: the Nobel selection process is famously secretive (and conducted in Swedish!) but we pry the lid off, at least a little bit.

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Episode 129

Should Tipping Be Banned?

It’s awkward, random, confusing — and probably discriminatory too.

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Episode 18

Robert Sapolsky: “I Don’t Think We Have Any Free Will Whatsoever.”

…was observing.) Steve asks Robert why we value human life over animals, why he’s lost faith in the criminal justice system, and how to look casual when you’re about to…

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Episode 127

Can You Be Too Smart for Your Own Good? And Other FREAK-quently Asked Questions

Dubner and Levitt talk about circadian rhythms, gay marriage, autism, and whether “pay what you want” is everything it’s cracked up to be.

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Episode 178

How to Save $1 Billion Without Even Trying

Doctors, chefs and other experts are much more likely than the rest of us to buy store-brand products. What do they know that we don’t?

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Episode 104

How Simple Is Too Simple?

Why are humans so eager for magic-bullet solutions? Can you explain how a pen works? And how does Angela feel about being forever branded “the grit lady”?…

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Episode 594

Your Brand’s Spokesperson Just Got Arrested — Now What?

It’s hard to know whether the benefits of hiring a celebrity are worth the risk. We dig into one gruesome story of an endorsement gone wrong, and find a surprising…

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Episode 256

What Are You Waiting For? (Replay)

Standing in line represents a particularly sloppy — and frustrating — way for supply and demand to meet. Why haven’t we found a better way to get what we want?…

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Episode 129

Should Tipping Be Banned? (Replay)

It’s awkward, random, confusing — and probably discriminatory too.

"Conspicuous Conservation" and the Prius Effect

Steve and Alison Sexton, have been looking into this question. (Not only are the Sextons twins, but their parents are also economists, and Steve is a competitive triathlete.) The result…



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Episode 12

Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.”

…turning 40. She also helped negotiate a landmark contract for the league’s players. Sue Bird tells Steve Levitt the untold truth about clutch players, her thoughts about the pay gap…

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Episode 82

Please Steal My Car

Levitt and Dubner answer your FREAK-quently Asked Questions about junk food, insurance, and how to make an economist happy.

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Episode 129

Why Do We Cheat, and Why Shouldn’t We?

Is there such a thing as a victimless crime? In an unfair system, is dishonesty okay? And are adolescent vandals out of ideas?…

Abortion and crime: who should you believe?

Two very vocal critics, Steve Sailer and John Lott, have been exerting a lot of energy lately trying to convince the world that the abortion reduces crime hypothesis is not…



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Episode 315

How to Become a C.E.O.

Mark Zuckerberg’s dentist dad was an early adopter of digital x-rays. Jack Welch blew the roof off a factory. Carol Bartz was a Wisconsin farm girl who got into computers….

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Episode 222

What Makes an Idea Interesting?

What do Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Malcolm Gladwell have in common? Are interesting theories more significant than true ones? And what has been keeping Angela up at night? Plus:…